Kurenai 06: The Music Man

Kurenai Sixth EpisodeThe light above you is shining

Normally I would complain when one on the very few episodes in a short series is filler. I find it’s like the pointlessness of stuffing Turkey with shrapnel and then tying it together with a thin pretence for a plot. However, this time, I think the packed 25.42 minutes of Kurenai (not even an OP and ED) was pure entertainment.

When compared to other rubbish plot devices which evolve into epic singing, primely Buffy the Vampire Slayer with it’s excuse that a demon is making them sing (WTF!?), this was not bad. Benika hires some people to persuade Shinkurou’s insane asylum to participate in a fake musical. Cos…. it’s for lols and kicks, you know? No, really. This is reasonably plausible. Wasting money and screwing around with subordinates fits Benika’s snobbish, commanding profile very well.

At the point where the cast line up for practice, I realise what a motley crew the characters of Kurenai really are. When objectively viewing the characters of Kurenai in this light, who are nonetheless individually wonderful, they are somewhat setup artificially thus exposing Kurenai’s heart as a situational comedy.

Like Will and Grace demonstrates, putting some gays together with straights is guaranteed fun but not alot of wit. Frankly, getting a Goth, a Chav, a reverse-trap and a Loli together to sing, would ensue comedy even at a funeral! But it wouldn’t ever happen.

The reverse-trap by the way, is Shinkurou Kurenai him herself. This character is voiced by a girl, Sawashiro Miyuki, not that I would have guessed it especially after her top quality singing so more credit to the seiyuu is due.

Even though an inspired 2 minutes of song was acceptable quality at best, I still congratulate Kou Matsuo for the effort. It doesn’t feel forced either, at least not in the sense that Macross makes Ranka or Sheryl randomly stage a concert in order to sell moar CDs (to fund the animation of Ranka’s hair, of course).

The original quartet are later backed up by Yayoi, probably the most unlikely reservoir of singing talent since the little mermaid; and Yuuno who is Tsuntsun so can’t sing for cookies, but will still glomp Shinkurou like a nasty rash. But at least then, Shinkurou would be more visible; she comes with a glow-in-the-dark dress. Overall Yuuno was really annoying, she acted like a drunk attention whore the time. The stocks in my opinion for that girl has went down.